May 15, 2017

May 14, 2017 - Ephesians 2:19-22

We pray: Lord, hear us as we call on Your
name and bless us as we call through Your name. Amen.

A famous Christian blogger makes the
following assertion about our culture: “a counter-cultural thing you can do
is become an engaged member of a faithful local church.” Think about that
for a moment. We don’t often consider our church membership to be a very
radical or risky thing. Hopefully, we view church and all its aspects as a
joyful blessing, not a chore or obligation. But, in our non-committed culture,
the author makes a very strong point. It is indeed contrary to modern thinking,
and sadly modern Christianity, to commit to a local, Bible-following assembly
of believers.

Yet, when you look at the Bible, a
committed promise is at its core. That’s why we call it the Old and New
Testament. A testament, or covenant, is the strongest of promises known to
mankind. God is absolutely about commitment, both in His nature toward us and
in His expectation for our lives. And wherever God’s Church has existed on
earth, it has been forged through commitment. Our churches today are a lot
different than the early Church. We have different customs, practices,
traditions, and methods, but what remains the same is God’s commitment to us
and our commitment to Him. In just under a month we will attempt to echo that
commitment through the annual rite of Confirmation, a time when young members
take a vow of faithfulness to the Word of God in which they have been
instructed. That practice finds its beginnings in the early Church and it’s one
of our links to the first Christians of the New Testament period. And it’s
about making a commitment.

Anything worth valuing in life is worth
committing to. That’s why we take these matters seriously. Think of other
things that you commit to: marriage, your word, your family, promises to loved
ones. If we don’t take these things lightly, why would treat our relationship
with God as any lesser?

Now, ask anyone who commits to their
church membership and the blessing of belonging will be talked about. Church
provides a place to belong, to be accepted and treasured by those who share
your beliefs. No matter what a person believes, the inner desire to belong is
shared by everyone. But, there’s a much greater way that we belong in church,
and especially to our Lord Jesus. We belong to Him because He owns us. Consider
this Scripture: 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Or do you not know that your body is
the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you
are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in
your body and in your spirit, which are God's.

We belong to Jesus, both in that He
accepts us by faith and He owns us through His death and resurrection. Church
membership gives us a place to receive that blessing as: citizens, saints, and
family; a place to be constructed on the foundation as living stones, and a
place to grow into a holy temple. We mediate on these truths today from:

Ephesians 2:19-22 Now, therefore, you are
no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and
members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the
apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in
whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the
Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God
in the Spirit.

Part 1: As Citizens,
Saints, and Family

The three stations of life mentioned in
our text kind of comprise every role that life offers. All three, citizen,
saint, and family member, apply to the believer. The Holy Spirit is telling us
that the love of our Savior extends to all areas of life and the place we learn
about that love, church, holds value for every aspect of life. This was
especially needed in the early church. A major division and cause for offense
at the time was the ethnic differences in the church. The issue involved Jewish
/ Gentile relationships because of the emphasis of God’s chosen people in the
Old Testament. A majority of Paul’s letters address this problem and you can
see him getting at it here. He says, “You are no longer strangers and
foreigners, but citizens.” Citizens of God’s kingdom by faith. This was
extremely encouraging to these early Christians.

In a way, we could say that not a whole
lot has changed. Our world today wrestles with divisions involving race and
ethnicity too. Even in America, the model of freedom in the world, these
divisions create polarizing conflicts. Obviously, the same could be said of
family problems too. It’s always sad and disheartening to hear of grudges that
last for 10-20 years, or even a lifetime, among close relatives. In a sinful,
fallen, broken world like ours, there’s simply no shortage of problems that
seek to destroy God’s intended harmony. Every person is touched deeply by these
problems, sometimes they are so pervasive in our lives that they shape where we
choose to live, go to church, how we spend our holidays, or who we call
friends.

What a powerful message the Spirit has
for us here! Through Jesus, we have a citizenship, sainthood, and family life
that is greater than anything of this earth. There’s no escape here for the problems
sin causes in these areas, but God beckons us to look onward and upward to a
greater calling. Troubled and frustrated by politics? Gain some perspective by
trusting in God’s kingdom. Problems and headaches at home? Remember you are a
child of the Heavenly Father. Beaten down by a cruel and vindictive world?
Trust in your Savior’s promise that you are His holy one.

In fact, there’s a neat thing about that
word “saint.” It’s a common term in today’s Church but back at the time this
letter was written it was a new concept. The Greek word actually applies only
to a deity, something divine that deserves the status of holy. It’s a testament
to the power of Christ’s atonement that the Holy Spirit now creates this new
application by calling you, the believer, a saint. Through Christ, you have all
the very same blessings He has as God. Not because you deserve it, but because you
belong to Jesus. That’s a precious gift in the face of sin.

Part 2: As living
stones on the foundation

Belonging to Jesus also means you are a
living stone. This is really where we see an application to Church. The imagery
of our text is pretty clear. Jesus is the Chief Cornerstone, the foundation of
our faith. The purpose of this foundation is to create a holy temple, which we’ll
get to in a second. But, what you really see here is the construction plan for
a church building, but as a metaphor for the Christian faith. Jesus employed a
similar image before, when He used the literal temple building in Jerusalem as
a picture for His body and a message of His death and resurrection. Here, the
temple is a picture of the Holy Christian Church in the heart of each believer.

Where do we, as living stones, come into
play? Well, in the book of 1 Peter actually. There he writes, “You also, as
living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to
offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
Jesus is the foundation, and like any church building, the walls, windows,
doors, and whatever else is in it rests of that foundation. When a person comes
to faith in Jesus, they become a stone in that structure, in the Church. But,
not just any stone, a living stone; one that has been sanctified by a
Savior who came back from the dead. A living stone is also active in faith and
holiness, not stagnant or dead.

Our link to the cornerstone, the
foundation of Jesus, are the ones who came before. Our text says, the “prophets
and apostles.” This is certainly an indication of believers from the past,
but also the very believers whom God used to record His holy Word. We stand onf
the legacy of Christians who came before us. We have what we have today in
large part to their ministry and example in the past. Likewise, Christians of
the future will stand on our legacy. It’s a humbling thing to consider, what
are we leaving to the next generation? Will we be the salt of the world that
preserves the truth?

But it’s the Word of God that holds
everything together in this structure called the Church. It doesn’t matter if
the stone is right next to the foundation or at the very top, if it is held by
the mortar of God’s Word it is part of the structure, and it serves a purpose.

We get a sense of the Church’s strength
in v. 21 when Paul writes that it is “fitted together.” Christians, as
living stones, are placed by God into the precise place where they fit the
best. But there’s even more to this thought. There’s one word used in the Greek
for the translation of “fitted together.” The thing is, this word is unique to
the Bible. A variation is used in other Greek writings, but a new twist was put
on it here in Ephesians (it comes up again in Ephesians 4:16). Very literally,
the typically Greek word is simply a combination of the words, “join” and
“together.” That’s how the word commonly reads, but another thought was added
in verse 21. The Holy Spirit also added the word “logew” on the end. Literally,
to “join together through speaking or words.” Most Christians are familiar with
logos from John 1, where Jesus is called the “Word made flesh.”

Put it all together and what you see is
that the Christians are held in God’s Church by His Word, His logos. The mortar
that binds living stones to other saints and to the Savior is all about the
preaching of God’s grace. We belong to Jesus because He comes to us in the
Bible. We know who to follow and what to trust because it is true in His Word.

Part 3: As a holy
temple

Our final point is that goal that we
mentioned earlier, to become a holy temple. We belong to Jesus because He wants
to dwell in us. Through sin, we are separated from Christ. Paul wrote earlier, Ephesians
2:14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down
the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity,
that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in
Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace.” The hatred of sin had
to be destroyed. There was a division, a wall, that existed between us and
eternal life. Christ abolished it through His death and resurrection and now,
we are not only with Him, but He is in us. We become His temple by faith, so
that we are “always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus,
that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body (2 Corinthians
4:10).”

We were once separate from God because we
are unholy. But, renewed by faith, we are made into a holy temple, a dwelling
place worthy of a holy God. And with the Lord Jesus, we grow. You know,
a lot is made these days about spiritual growth, or church growth. Several
things immediately get mentioned: an attractive property (I get flyers all the
time about how a beautiful new church sign will increase membership), a
welcoming atmosphere, a healthy fundraising program, beautiful new music and
worship styles, an inclusive approach to preaching, an entertaining message.
All these really end up becoming “What I want.” If church can be that for me
then I’ll come, if not I’ll find something else.

But, when God talks about growth, it only
starts when the holy temple is present. To get to that point, a person needs
forgiveness and cleansing from the Chief Cornerstone, not whatever their heart
desires. True growth is not about any of those things that are so often
mentioned. Growth happens wherever the Word of God is present.

Growth without Christ and His Word is
like trying to belong without belonging to anyone. If belonging in a church is
all about the acceptance type of belonging, the kind where I fit in so I feel
okay, there will be no room for the Cornerstone, for His all-strength mortar of
Word and sacrament, and for living stones of all shapes and sizes; stones that
don’t necessarily fit in without a common bond. Belonging is also about being
bought, owned by God, paid for, redeemed by the blood of the righteous Lamb.
You are not of yourself. Christ is your Lord and Master and you need not fear.

You belong to Jesus. You are His own and
His Church is your home. In all areas of life. In a living and active way, and in
a way you will grow. Amen.

The peace of God which surpasses all
understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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Pastor Mark Tiefel

Pastor Mark S. Tiefel graduated from Immanuel Lutheran College and Seminary in Eau Claire, WI, in May of 2012. He previously served Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church. He was installed at Redemption on April 12, 2015.